These names represent just a handful of individuals who have recently been physically attacked because of their actual or perceived sexuality. There has been an apparent surge in violent responses to same-sex couples who display affection in public (such as holding hands or kissing). Two women were attacked in Vancouver after holding hands and kissing on a public transit bus. A number of male same-sex couples have been attacked in NYC while holding hands, some even in broad daylight in areas of the city known to be gay-friendly. Yet another gay couple is launching a human rights case against a taxi cab company whose employee tried to force the couple out of his cab on a busy expressway after the couple shared a kiss in the back seat of their cab.

To hold or not to hold…hands, that is. When you’re in a relationship, are you a hand-holder, or do you prefer to keep your hands to yourself? Perhaps you find your hand gets too sweaty when in the embrace of another, or maybe you only hold hands seasonally when doing so will provide you with an extra bit of needed warmth in the deep freeze of January. Wherever you fall on this spectrum of loving to hold hands or avoiding it like the plague, imagine for a moment that it wasn’t up to you whether or not you could hold hands with your partner. Perhaps, if you hate to hold hands anyway, your response to such a scenario would be a sense of relief. But if you fall on the other side of the spectrum, where you love to walk hand in hand with your partner, you’re probably a bit confused and baffled as to why this simple and personal decision could be taken away from you. Such may be the case for marginalized couples, for whom PDAs may bring unwanted attention, stigma or even violence. Could avoiding PDAs have potential health implications?

Do Russian same-sex couples with children need to begin seeking asylum in other countries? According to a Russian journalist and LGBTQ activist, that’s exactly what they need to do.1 Earlier this year, Russia made adoption, foreign and domestic, by same-sex parents illegal and also passed what they call the “anti-propaganda” law, which all but criminalizes same-sex sexuality. For example, it is illegal to display rainbow flags, to compare same-sex relationships to heterosexual relationships, or to speak about sexual diversity in a positive manner (even in the press). Earlier this week, things went from bad to worse when a member of the Russian Parliament put forward a bill that would remove children, both biological and adopted, from households with same-sex parents. If this new bill passes, children with same-sex parents will become wards of the state, similar to children who are deemed to have "unfit" parents for reasons of abuse, negligence, or drug addiction. Many of the recent changes to Russian laws that have been infringing on the rights of LGBTQ individuals have taken place under the guise of "protecting children" from potential sources of sexual abuse and from learning about same-sex sexuality as a "viable" alternative to heterosexuality.